I 
POPULAR FLORA. 
139 
30. STAFF-TREE FAMILY. Order CELASTRACEJE. 
Woody plants, with simple alternate or opposite leaves; the divisions of the calyx and 
the petals both overlapping in the bud; the stamens as many as the petals (4 or 5) and 
alternate with them, inserted on a thick expansion of the receptacle (disk) which fills the 
bottom of the calyx. Pod colored, of 2 to 5 mostly one-seeded cells, showy when ripe in 
autumn, especially when they open and display the seeds enveloped in a pulpy scarlet aril. 
Flowers polygamous or nearly dioecious, white, in racemes: disk cup-shaped: style long. 
Pod globular, orange-yellow. Leaves alternate. Our only species is a twin¬ 
ing shrub, sometimes called Bittersweet, ( Celastrus) Waxwork. 
Flowers perfect, flat, dull green or dark purple, in axillary racemes: disk flat, covering 
the ovary, and bearing 4 or 5 very short stamens, the short style just rising 
through it. Pods red, lobed. Shrubs: leaves opposite, ( Euonymus ) Burning-bush 
Pods smooth, strongly lobed, or Spindle-tree. 
Pods roundish, rough, ( Euonymus ) Strawberry-bush. 
31. SOAPBERRY FAMILY. Order SAPINDACE^l. 
The proper Soapberry family belongs mostly to warmer climates ; but we have 
3*7 344 3,3 343 f b ™ bS and treeS bel ° D g- 
ing to three of its sub¬ 
families : 
I. BLADDERNUT Sub¬ 
family. Flowers regular and 
perfect. Stamens 5, as many 
as the petals, and alternate 
with them. Seeds bony. 
Leaves opposite, pinnate or 
with 3 leaflets, having stipules, 
and also little stipules ( stipels ) 
to the leaflets. 
Shrub: flowers white in racemes. Fruit of 3 bladdery 
pods united. ( Staphylea) Bladdernut. 
II. HORSECHESTNUT Subfamily. Flowers po¬ 
lygamous, some of them having no good pistil, mostly 
irregular and unsymmetrical. Calyx bell-shaped or 
tubular, 5-toothed. Petals 4 or 5, with claws, on the 
receptacle. Stamens generally 7, long. Style one. 
Ovary 3-celled, with a pair of ovules in each cell, 
349 350 only one or two ripening in the fruit; which becomes 
314. Red Buckeye, reduced in size. 345 . Flower. 346. Same, a leathery 3-valved pod. Seeds very large, like chest- 
rvWe'd'^ngofwUe 1 ! ^ 48 * Same, Sd c^Lwi^'shoting^ ™ts. Fine ornamental trees, with opposite palmate 
two ovules io each cell. 349. Same, partly grown, only one seed ] e aveS, and flowers in thick panicles, 
growing. 350. Ripe pod bursting. 7 x 
Petals 5, spreading; stamens declined: fruit prickly. Leaflets 7, ( JEsculus ) *Horsechestnut. 
Petals 4, unlike, with long claws in the calyx. Leaflets generally 5, (JZsculus, § Pavia) Buckeye. 
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